Erised
by Simply Kelp
Summary: One night, after having a nasty fight with Evans, he entered a deserted classroom to find a large mirror in an ornate gold frame. The Marauders find the mirror of Erised.


Title: Erised  
Author: Simply Kelp  
Pairing: references to Sirius/Remus, but not central to the 'plot'  
Rating: pg-13 (two swear words)  
Summary: One night, after having a nasty fight with Evans, he entered a deserted classroom to find a large mirror in an ornate gold frame. The Marauders find the mirror of Erised.  
Disclaimer: If I owned the Harry Potter franchise, I probably wouldn't be posting this here, would I?  
A/N: I wrote this a _long_ time ago. I was looking for something else on my computer, and stumbled across it.

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"How witty, Potter."  
"I try my best."  
"You're such a jerk."  
"Like you're any better, Evans."

When James couldn't sleep he was wont to roam the castle. One night, after having a nasty fight with Evans, he entered a deserted classroom to find a large mirror in an ornate gold frame. Being James, he ambled up to the mirror, and slipped the hood off of his cloak. "Looking good," he whispered. He read the inscription at the top. _Erised, _funny, it looked a lot like 'desire' spelled backwards. Suddenly, though, the mirror changed. James was staring at himself, only he looked different- older. His robes had a patch that said 'auror,' and an Order of Merlin badge. The next night, James took the others to see it.

"Do you think it shows the future?"  
"No."  
"Why, what did you see, Pads?"  
"Does it matter?"

Sirius looked determinedly into the mirror. If it was really as good as what James said, he wanted to see it. The actuality somewhat disappointed him. On either side of him, were his parents. Mother, usually stern, and overbearing, and Father, distracted always by work, were smiling, and looking _happy_. Reggie was there too, and they all looked like something completely alien: a family. He had told himself all these years that he didn't care, but now, seeing them together-- why couldn't they be normal?

"Let me see… it's not working."  
"Sad, Pete, you've got no dreams."  
"You're standing in the wrong spot."  
"Oh, now I see."

Peter was excited. James had talked about how wonderful this mirror was. He felt stupid standing in the wrong place at first, but that didn't matter, he always felt a little stupid. What he saw made him smile. There were all the others, cheering, and smiling as Pete-- fat, silly, little Peter Pettigrew-- got the best marks of their year. Maybe it _could_ predict the future. One thing was for sure, he wouldn't stop till he did something great.

"You okay, Moony? You look kind of… funny."  
"Huh- yeah. I'm… fine."  
"Probably saw himself at the library of Alexandria."  
"Yeah… Right."

When Remus first looked in the mirror, he thought that he had fallen into a dream. He felt his cheeks tinge pink as he stared fixedly at the mirror. He hadn't seen the others' wishes. He really hoped they couldn't see this-- especially Sirius. He strolled up to Remus in that languid, sensuous way of his, and took Remus' hand. He whispered something in the reflection Remus' ear which caused it to go scarlet, and he kissed its cheek. Remus could _feel_ the heat radiating from it. Why did it have to feel so real?

"What was that?"  
"Where's the map?"  
"Shit, forgot it!"  
"Quick, under the cloak."

Severus watched as the door opened seemingly of its own accord. If he squinted, he could almost see the terrible troupe walking, giggling. After they had left, he entered the classroom. It smelled like it hadn't been properly ventilated since the seventeenth century, but his attention was caught by the large, out-of-place mirror that dominated the room. He stood directly in front of it, and stared intently, little frown lines forming in his forehead, only the reflection didn't show it. In fact, the reflection was… smiling. It seemed to recognise someone just off the mirror, and waved. James' reflection sauntered into the mirror. Severus turned quickly, wand drawn, ready to fight. Only James wasn't there. Frowning, he turned back to the mirror. The James reflection put his arm around the Severus reflection, and said something that made the other laugh slightly. They looked like friends. Stupid, piece of shit mirror must be broken.

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Severus', and Sirius' are probably my favourites. Thank you for reading, I hope that you enjoyed it! I would love to hear what you thought.


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